Doll head



April 14, 1931. .1. H. WILHELM DOLL HEAD lFiled March 21, 1929 INVENTOQR falzzzjl. Wllm.

Patented Apr.' 14, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE i JOHN H. WILHELM, OF ROCKAWAY BEACH, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO MARRON FACTURING CO., INC., OFNEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW'YORK DoLL anni) Application tiled March 21,^1929. Serial No. 348,748.

This invention relates to an improvement in doll heads. K,

An object of the invention is to provide a doll head consisting of two separately formed a' members nested together, one for providing the required attractive exterior appearance and facial characteristics and the other for 'providing an eficient supporting means for gravity movable eyes.

A further object is to so construct these members that the first or outer member may if desired be of soft flexible material, while the second or inner member is of stiffer and4 more substantial construction serving as a 15 lacking or reinforcement for the outer memer.

A further Objectis to so form the inner member that it is adapted to nest into and cooperate with any selected one of a number of f outer members having slightly varying facial characteristics. i

A further object is to so form thefinner member that it may be readily shaped up from a single piece of sheet metal by a simple and ine enslve pressing operation.

A furt er object is to so form the inner member that an eye set may be easily attached thereto or removed therefrom.

A further obj ect is to provide a simple and head.

Other objects and aims of the invention, more or less specific than those referred to above, will be in part obvious and in part inted out in the course of the following` escription of the elements, combinations, arrangements of parts and applications of principles constituting the invention; and the scope of protection contemplated will be indicated in the appended claims.

Ine-the accompanying drawings which are to be taken as a part of this specification, and in which I have shown merely a preferred form of embodiment of the invention Fig. l is a vertical sectional view through a doll head constructed in accordance with this invention.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view through the front portionof the head seen in Fig. 1, said section being taken substaneicient form of eye set for use in the `doll ially upon the plane of line II-II of ig. 3 is a vertical sectional view through the front portion of the head seen in Fig. l, the section in this instance being` taken subtantially upon the plane of line III--III of Fig. 4 is a view similar to an upper portion of Fig. 3 and illustrating a modi ed manner of (Inounting the eyes upon the inner'member, an

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but illustrating a modified form of the inner member.

Referring to the drawings for describing in detail the structures illustrated therein, the reference character L indicates the outer member while the reference character G indicates the inner member.

The eye set is indicated generally by the reference character H.

The outer member L may be made of any appropriate material and may be of any desired thickness and contour. It may be stiff and unyielding, as when made of moulded wood pu] or like material, or it may be relatively soil: and pliable, as when made of Celluloid or painted cloth or the like. It will be apparent that the purposes of this invention are best in evidence however in instances where the outer member is cfa soft pliable material. Also, the outer member may consist merely of the frontal or face portion of 1i dall head, or it may include the entire This outer member is pressed or otherwise shaped to provide the usual facial characteristi cs such as the nose 1, mouth 2, etc., vand has the usual eye openings as 3-3 in appropriate positions therethrough. The outer surface may be painted or otherwise colored to give a a prgper human appearance, as will be understoo The inner member G may be made of any appropriate material and may be of any deslred thickness.- It is preferably stiff and unyielding being usually formed of pressed sheet metal. Its contourl and size 1s such that it will fit against the interior surface of the outer member.- It may be sha d so as to iit closely and snugly into and a ut all of 1 rounded and relatively rough it to thesefeatures of the outer member. Openings or spaces suchv as indicated by the reference characters 4-4 may occur between the inner and outer members, such spaces being desirable for various reasons amongst which may be mentioned that it reduces the amount of pressing and stretching re uired of the inner member to bring it to desired shape, and it makes room for material variation in the shape of ditferent'outer members with which agiveninner member may be operatively assembled.

Where the outer member is made of relatively Iiexible material as mentioned, such aexibiuty will greatly facilitate assembly of the two members since it will of course permit the outer member to yield in any locality' as may be demanded by greater or less; inccuracy of surface contour of the inner mem- The inner member has eye openin therethrough as 5-5 in position to mate t e openings 3--3 of the outer member, and these mating openings are adapted to receive the two eye balls 6-6 of the eye set'H.

The inner and outer members may be held together in any lappropriate manner, but usually an adhesive of suitable consistency is smeared upon the abutting surfaces of the two members for this purpose.

If desired this adhesive may be in sufficient quntity,`as indicated at 7 in Figs. 2 and 3,

y to fill someor all of the spaces 4, thus not `only binding the two members together, but also affording a permanent support and re-inforcement for the outer member.

The inner member is preferablyonly sufficiently extensive to constitute a backing for the frontal and cheek portions of the head, as indicated, butobviously it could be made of any extent desired, even to lining the interior head if found necessary.

The eye set H may be of any appropriate type. As shown it consists of a supporting carrier as 8 arranged horizontally across the head with. its opposite ends as 9-9 engaging within open seatslO-l() prepared for the purpose at opposite sides of the inner member. A pair of armsy as 11-11 project forwardly from .the central portion of the supporting carrier 8 and rotatably support across rod 12 the eyes 6-f6 being mounted upon the opposite endsy of said cross rod, and there being a weight arm 13 connected with the mid,

portion of the cross rod and carrying a weight 14 at its lower end for producing gravity oscillation of the eyes in the usual manner.

' The connection between the cross rodand the arms 114-11 is preferably suliiciently.

loose so that a light spring as15 engaging'between the ingly against the walls o the mating'eye openings or sockets 3-5 of the members L and G.

Any suitable means may be employed for enabling easy insertionof the ends of the supporting carrier into the seats 10. The insupportin` carrier and) the cross l rod is enable to hol the efyes pressed yield-` llerent resiliency of the material of the inner member may in mostcases be sufficient to enable the opposite side portions of the inner member to be sprung-apart sutliciently for lthis purpose, or the supporting carrier i may be formed with spring loops as 16--16 therein one adjacent each of the ends 9, said loops enabling the ends to be moved toward or away from each other at will. When the supportin carrier is assembled with .the member Gg the sprin loops will always hold the ends 9 firmly wit in the seats 10.

In the modification Fig. 4 the structure is Y its free end bearing against the mid portion of the cross rod for the same purpose as the spring 15 above mentioned. 4

Inthe modification Fig. 5 it is suggested that if desired the inner member G may be formed of suitable moulded material, lsuch as moulded wood pulp or the like. In this instance the supporting carrier 8 of the eye set may be fitted with movable prongs as 19` at its opposite ends for beilg imEaled into v in t the material of the member e general manner as more fully illustrated and described in the patent of Alexander Konof No.' 1,621,073, issued-March 15th, 1927.

It is particularly to be noted that this invention provides a simple and practical means whereby a doll head member, which is preferably of sheet metal, ideally adapted for the operative mounting of agravity eye set thereon, may be 4produced at small cost and may be readily given aV desirable attractive exterior appearance. y As many changes could be made in this construction without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description, or shown in the accompanying drawings, shall be interpretedl as illustrative only and not in a limitin sense.

aving thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Let- .ters Patent is carrier of a length to extend across the interior of a doll head from side to side extending in the general direction of length of lsaid cross rod, bearing forming means for said cross rod provided upon the supporting carrier intermediate the ends of said carrier, gravity means to oscillate the cross rod in its bearings, and the end portions of said supporting carrier at opposite sides of said bearing forming means each being bent to provide a. spring loop therein adapted to resiliently urge the extreme ends of said carrier away from each other into retaining engagement With opposite side portions of a doll head.

2. A doll head comprising an inner niember and an outer member nested together, the outer member being of substantially uniform thickness and shaped to provide nose, mouth, eye openings and. other usual facial characteristics in its front Wall, the inner member resting against the inner surface of the front wall ot the outer member fitting generally thereto but its front surface contour diil'ering in proportion from the proportions of corresponding parts of the inner surface of the outer member, said inner member having a pair of eye openings therethrough to mate the eye openings of the outer member, a pair of eyes movably mounted upon the inner member and fittingto said ,eye openings of the inner member, and one of said members being relatively stiff and unyielding and the Aother member being relativel flexible and yielding thereby adapted to yield to accommodate the other member when said inembers are assembled.

3. doll head comprising an inner meinber and an outer member nested together, the outer member being sha ed to provide nose, mouth, and other usual tacial characteristics and having the usual eye openings therethrough, the inner member being restricted to the frontal portion of the head and fitting generally to the interior surface contour of the frontal portion ofthe outer member and having eye openings therethrough to mate the eye openings of the'outer member, a pair of eyes fitting into said eye openings, a cross rod to opposite end portions of which the eyes are connected, the inner` member having vseats formed therein one adjacent each of the' eye openings of said inner member, an eloni a supporting carrier upon which the eyes are gated supportine` carrier arranged substantially-parallel with the cross rod and having spring pressed portions engaging Within said seats to hold the carrier connected with the inner member, s'aid carrier having'a part oscillatably supporting the cross rod, and a gravity control for said eyes. l

\ 4. An eye set comprising alpair of eyes, and

mounted, said carrier comprising a'single flat strip or" springy sheet metal having an intermediate pqrtion to which the eyes are connected, and said strip' of sheet metal at opposite sides of said intermediate portion being bent laterally to provide a pair of spring loops one at each side of said intermediate portion or" a character to normally urge the opposite ends of the carrier away from. each other and from said intermediate portion adapted thereby to engage opposite Wall parts of a doll head for holding the carrier'in position Within a doll head.

5. As an article of manufacture an inner wall member for doll heads, said Wall member consisting of a piece of sheet metal pressed into shape to correspond generally in outer surface contour to the inner surface contour of the frontal portion of a doll head and having a pair of eye openings in appropriate position therethrough, said piece of sheet metal thus shaped being of a size adapting it to be conlined to the frontal portion of the head and having marginal edge portions eX- tending rearwardly to overlie the inner surface of the cheek portions of the doll head adj aeent the eye openings, said marginal edge portions being pressed to define seats therein facing tovvard each other across the re 'on i t3 between the eye openings, a A air of eyes and a supporting carrier for saideyesentending across the region between said eye openings and having spring pressed parts at its opposite ends relatively engagin within said seats to hold thecarrier in position, and the eyes being connected with the carrier to be oscillatably carried thereby Within said eye openings.

In testimony whereof I afx my signature.

JOHN H. WILHELM. 

